About the Book Discussion Questions Discussion Guide

DISCUSSION GUIDE ABOUT THE BOOK Prue McKeel has been bored in school since returning home from her adventures in Wildwood, but soon she is plunged into a life-and-death struggle when she discovers that her science teacher is actually a shape-shifting assassin sent to track her down. Teaming up with her friend Curtis, who remained in Wildwood as a bandit-in-training, Prue tries to follow cryptic messages to save the magical world from dark forces. Meanwhile, Curtis’s sisters, Rachel and Elsie, become entangled in more intrigue when they are left at an orphanage run by a man obsessed with entering and exploiting the Impassable Wilderness. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Compare Prue’s distractedness in school to Curtis’s training in 8. What is the importance of Alister, the young Mystic? When Prue the bandit camp. What skills is Curtis being taught by Brendan? returns to the Council Tree, how does she know she can trust Why is Prue bored by her lessons in school? Alister? What does he tell her that gives direction to her quest? 2. Why do Mr. and Mrs. Mehlberg decide to leave Rachel and Elsie 9. Why is Curtis so angry with Prue when they return to fi nd at the orphanage? What are the warning signs that this is not a the bandit camp destroyed? What does he mean when he says, safe place for the girls? Describe the difference between Rachel “Everything’s always about you, isn’t it, Prue?” (p. 272)? What and Elsie’s reactions to the orphanage. What is the importance of brings their quarrel to an end? Elsie’s doll, Intrepid Tina? 10. Why does Desdemona help Unthank with the orphanage, and 3. Iphigenia tells Curtis, “’Tis the winter of our discontent. I believe why does she feel he has betrayed her? What does Unthank do one of your Outsider poets penned the line” (p. 65). What does with the children he calls Unadoptable? What discovery do Elsie, she mean by quoting this line, and who is the poet? Rachel, and Martha make when they are sent into the Impassable Wilderness? 4. Why does Prue decide to tell her story to Darla in the coffee shop? When does she fi rst realize that Darla is not to be trusted? 11. Who is Roger Swindon and why does he want Unthank to create a special machine part for him? Why does Unthank stop all other 5. Why is Joffrey Unthank so obsessed with the Impassable production to work on the special cog, and why does he work on Wilderness? What are his plans for gaining access to the area, it alone? and why is he a threat to those who live there? What is his relationship to the other Titans? 12. What is the clue Alister gives to Prue that helps her when she, Curtis, and Septimus fall into the crevice? What help do they 6. Why do the rescuers believe that the bandits’ camp is the safest receive from the mole world, and how do they help the moles in place to keep Prue when she is taken back to the Wood? What is return? Compare the role of Sybil in the mole world to Iphigenia the importance of Iphigenia’s dream? How does Prue know when in the North Wood. Iphigenia has been killed? 13. How can Elsie fi nd her way into the Impassable Wilderness when 7. Why does Prue feel so strongly that she needs to go to the Carol and the others cannot? Why was Carol banished from the Council Tree? Why do Prue and Curtis and Septimus leave the Wood and why can’t he return? camp without telling Brendan where they are going? Continued on the next page. BALZER + BRAY An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers WWW.WILDWOODCHRONICLES.COM DISCUSSION GUIDE 14. What does Martha tell the other children to convince them to leave the Periphery and return to the Outside? Why does Carol agree to go? Why does Michael disagree with their decision? 15. The last chapter, “Season’s End,” wraps up all the threads of the story that are happening simultaneously. Which character is aware of all of these parts of the story, and how can he know about all of them at once? What season is coming to an end? What predictions can you make, based on what you have read, for the next volume in the Wildwood Chronicles? EXTENSION ACTIVITIES 1. I NSPIRATION FROM AFAR. The assassin who pursues Prue 3. THE MYSTERY OF MÖBIUS. Look up information about the and Curtis and the leader she visits take their inspiration from German mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius. Learn how to Japanese folklore. Look up information about the Kitsune and create a Möbius strip. What are some of the uses for this concept? the daimyo. Draw pictures of these characters and write a short Why do you think it is diffi cult to create the machine cog that description of each from your research. Compare what you have Unthank tries to make in the story? found out about these legends with the characters as they appear 4. EACHING INTO THE EAL ORLD Discover what you can in Under Wildwood. R R W . learn about the reality of the Portland Underground (otherwise 2. WORD BY WORD. Make a list of all of the unusual and known as the Shanghai Tunnels). What are the differences and unfamiliar words you encounter while reading Under Wildwood, similarities between the tunnel in the story and the actual tunnels such as: ushanka hat, rictus grin, byzantine, oscillate, maudlin, in the city of Portland, Oregon? What other cities have similar rhomboid, mandala, olfactory, archaic, ascetic, trebuchet, and underground histories that can still be seen today? epiphany. Look up the defi nitions of these new words, and keep a list of all of the exciting words you fi nd and their defi nitions. ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR COLIN MELOY is the charismatic lead singer and songwriter of the Decemberists, a highly celebrated band that has sold in excess of one million records. Wildwood was Colin’s debut as a children’s author, and Under Wildwood is his second book for young readers. www.colinmeloy.com CARSON ELLIS fi rst rose to prominence as the artist who created the Decemberists’ iconic visual look. She’s gone on to become a bestselling illustrator, working on such renowned books as the Wildwood Chronicles, The Composer Is Dead by Lemony Snicket, and The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. Photo by Autumn de Wilde Autumn by Photo www.carsonellis.com GUIDED READING LEVEL BALZER + BRAY An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers WWW.WILDWOODCHRONICLES.COM W For exclusive information on your favorite authors and artists, visit www.authortracker.com. Also available as an ebook. To order, please contact your HarperCollins sales representative, call 1-800-C-HARPER, or fax your order to 1-800-822-4090. Questions and activities prepared by Connie Rockman, youth literature consultant and adjunct professor of children’s and young adult literature. Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Unadoptable Books, LLC..

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